Pope Stephen II

Pope Stephen II (700-29 April 757) was Pope from 752 to 757, succeeding Pope Zachary and preceding Pope Paul I.

Biography
Stephen was born in 700 AD in Rome, and in 752 AD he was consecrated as pope. Stephanus was the first pope of the Frankish Papacy under King Pepin the Short, as Ravenna fell in 751 to the Lombards. Stephen could not secure the aid of the Byzantine Empire against the Lombards, as the Byzantines fought against the Abbasid Caliphate and Bulgars at the same time. In 756 Pepin and his army forced the last of the Lombards to surrender his conquests, and he reigned until 757 AD.